right angle resume

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

I was in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba the week of February 9 to serve as an NGO Observer at the 9/11 Military Commission hearings. Upon landing the captain of our flight said "Welcome to Cuba, Pearl of the Antilles." During my time there I discovered the real gem - the Community Library.

It was a wonderful surprise to see such a great library facility on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Although it didn't look like much from the outside . . .

24-hour free wifi, inside and outside the building!

who can resist a door that invites you in with

The Community Library was renovated in 2012. The news article I found describing the renovation noted that the Community Library serves 135,000 users! The collections were current and in great shape. I found many favorites in the well-stocked children's and young adult sections.

Show me a child who wouldn't want to come to story hour in this room?

Story hour: 4:00 Friday

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One couldn't help feeling at home here. The librarians were very friendly, the computers new, and the seating and work areas comfortable. The electronic resources were impressive - Academic Search Premier was just one of many available for use!

The Community Library is open noon - 9 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. The usual public library "comforts" were available -- reader advisory brochures and Library Bingo! I got a Reading Bingo Card as a souvenir.

I was a bit sad not to be there to attend the murder mystery dinner!

Whenever possible I used the wifi at the Community Library, even though it meant a 10-minute escort van ride, because it was faster and more reliable than the weekly $150 ethernet access at Camp Justice. It didn't hurt that "I am a public library junkie!"

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

In mid-December I traveled to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba with 11 other NGO observers, representing law
schools, human rights organizations, and the American Bar Association, to
observe and monitor pre-trial motion hearings in the 9/11 case. My role as an NGO
observer is to be an independent, objective witness to help ensure that a fair
and transparent legal process is occurring. As the eyes and ears of the outside
world and, most importantly, the American public, I took this honor and
responsibility very seriously. I did a substantial amount of “homework” to
enhance my understanding of not only the content of the case and the motions to
be heard, but also of military commission procedure, international human rights
law, and the right to a fair trial. Because the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence released what is now known as the “Torture Report” two days
before I left, I read that report as well. In retrospect, nothing could have
fully prepared me for the experience, even though I have been working with the Military
Commission Observation Project here at the Indiana University McKinney Law
School for more than six months.

My last important obligation is to share my findings as broadly as possible.The importance of this
obligation has been reinforced by how frequently people respond with surprise
when I tell them why I went to Guantánamo Bay. They say, for example: “Is that
still going on? What is it? Isn’t that over yet? Aren’t they guilty? Why is the
government spending all that money?”

As one way of sharing broadly, I decided
to offer an executive summary of my findings in this forum as to whether a fair
and open process is occurring at Guantánamo Bay. You can find additional
thoughts in my posts at The Gitmo Observer

The executive summary is
four short sentences:

The Military Commission
is the process we are using at this time to determine innocence and guilt, and
ultimately, any sentences to be imposed on the defendants.

The government and
judiciary have determined that the best place for the Military Commission
process to be conducted is Guantánamo Bay.

It is currently
anticipated that the 9/11 trials will begin no earlier than 2018; as such there
are and will be many more actions that will work to deny fair trials to the
defendants.

It is imperative that we
as Americans pay attention to ensure that fair and transparent legal proceedings
occur.

A recent New York Daily News op-ed piece written
by a member of a 9/11 victim’s family vehemently and passionately objected to the
release of the Torture Report because in her opinion the Torture Report made the
detainees into victims. In the author’s opinion the
committee was influenced by “a narrative written
by anti-American ideologues in thrall of international human rights activists with
no allegiance to nations.”

I disagree. The victim of
the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program described in the Torture Report
is our Constitution. If we fail to ensure that each of these individuals is afforded a fair
trial, we will have failed our Constitution and ourselves. If, and that is a
very big if, we are to salvage any aspect of process going forward, we must
ensure that the voice of our Constitution resonates as loudly and passionately
as the other voices.

As members of the legal
community, we stand in a unique position that enables us to question and evaluate the
process. We deal with the law and the fair and judicious application of the law
every day. We are trained to question, reason, and identify the incongruities.
We have an obligation to stand firm to the principles of our Constitution when
horrific actions tempt peaceful people to act outside the law. In my opinion,
there is currently no better place to exercise that obligation than in
reference to the monitoring and evaluation of the legal process occurring at Guantánamo
Bay. All we need do is take the time to pay attention.

We cannot rely on others
or even the press to pay attention and question on our behalf. On this trip, only
four press agencies were present: Miami Herald, The Daily Beast, The Washington Free Beacon,
and Berliner Beitung. Currently, the Miami Herald provides comprehensive and, in many instances, the only
coverage of the proceedings at Guantánamo Bay. Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald has been on the story since the first detainees arrived in
Guantánamo Bay in January 2002.

This untitled poem by
Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), a Protestant pastor who spoke out against Adolf
Hitler and spent seven years in a concentration camp, reflects my experience at Guantánamo
Bay and informs my call to speak on behalf of our Constitution:First they came for the
Socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the
Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the
Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left
to speak for me.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

This summer’s media images of colleagues,
friends, neighbors, and complete strangers huddled together over three-by-four inch
cell phone screens and shared ear buds during the World Cup recalled memories of sitting
in the front room with my dad, brothers, and stray relatives watching Sunday
afternoon football on television. CBS and ABC were the only options in rural north-central Wisconsin in the early 70’s; essentially limiting all Sunday television viewing to sports until
such time as the Mutual of Omaha’s
Wild Kingdom made its weekly appearance. As a less than an engaged-and-willing participant, I typically inquired
if we were cheering for the black team or the white team (i.e., which team was the Green
Bay Packers). A question of
necessity given that my family owned a 20-inch black and white television. In
the excitement of the game I doubt we thought much about the size of the screen
or the lack of color; instead my family was interested in the game.

Similarly the World Cup images
reminded me that the need for information is paramount and that convenience

is
going to trump format. That is, even though screens of once un-imagined size
were displaying the matches, sports fans and patriots that were seeking
information wanted it now! In fact, so
much so that they were willing to huddle at train stations and bus stops and
near vending machines with complete strangers to watch the action on small
screens. Or in my experience, to detour on the homeward bound commute to stand
drink-less and three-deep in the doorway of Miller’s
Pub on Wabash Avenue in Chicago in order to be part of the collective cheering on of
the home town team. In short, a simple
every-day reminder that facilitating information means tailoring it to the
community.

Likewise the recent OCLC report,
“At a Tipping
Point: Education, Learning and Libraries” advises librarians that we need
to start listening more closely to our communities. The report notes (ironically)
that libraries are branded as the “book” place despite evidence that our
electronic resources and services far surpass our print collections and on-site
services. The research results indicate
that our communities want libraries that are convenient to use, support online
learning, and function as places “where work gets done.” For some reason, our
users don’t seem to think this describes us!
So in short, we have a perception problem and we need to reframe our
message to move us beyond the out-of-date and inaccurate “book” brand. The OCLC
report warns that our survival depends on this rebranding.

Where to start? I went back to
the basics and reread The Atlas of New Librarianship. I often return to David Lankes, because well, I’ve long
thought his theory about librarianship is “right” for lack of a better word. Given that, the Atlas was likely to be the place to help me come up with ideas to address
the perception problem.

Lankes reminded me that
“Innovation is not a time slot, it is an attitude.” In other words, I was not going to be able to
solve a “perception” problem by setting aside an hour one afternoon and
getting it done! Nor was it going to be
easy or comfortable. His advice: “be merciless
in questioning tradition: Uphold what works and innovate or eliminate the rest.”
Last and perhaps most importantly, he reminded me that innovation is not
invention. Somehow that makes it all seem so much less daunting!

Academic librarians are very
privileged. There is a feeling that we get a “do-over” with each fall
semester. And if each fall comes with an
opportunity (real or imagined) to “do it better” than I want to make sure I
don’t squander the opportunity. So I
have some thinking and evaluating to do. In the end I want my library to
develop 21st century information skills in its users. In other words
I want my users to recognize when there an information need and understand that
the library has the resources and services to help them respond to the need in
a scholarly and professional manner.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Last Friday morning found me standing in the back of a garbage truck offloading Northeastern Reporters from library carts and out of dumpsters. At the Ruth Lilly Law Library we are "right sizing" our print collection; that is, among other things, reducing to and retaining one copy of this resource. It is hard to believe that at one time the law library owned as many as ten working copies of this reporter. As I worked with colleagues throwing bound volumes into the truck I experienced déjà vu of my work at the Legal Resources Centre. Dumpsters (or dustbins) seem to figure a lot in my career these days.The memory reminded me that I needed to make a decision about this blog. I admit I have been deliberately avoiding making a decision. All transitions require time to process and I didn't want to make a decision too quickly.There are many days that I feel I am still in transition. I've been back from South Africa for just a little over two months.The days have included a whirlwind of interesting and challenging work activities: the AALL Leadership Academy; writing an accepted book chapter and preparing a poster session on digital credentialing for AALL San Antonio with my colleagues; co-authoring a paper for the Boulder Conference; locating a publication outlet for a co-authored article on adjunct teaching (currently appears that the NYSBA is going to publish the piece--yippee--); writing a guest blog post for the RIPS Law Librarian blog; presenting at the Indiana University Librarians' Day; preparing and submitting grant applications and proposals for upcoming conferences; teaching legal research to 110 students in the summer session; orchestrating changes to the AALL Spectrum Blog; moving the last two issues of this year's AALL Spectrum to completion; coordinating a library team retreat; and generally getting caught up with my staff and the library's activities. On top of all that I decided to begin the legal informatics certificate and pitch my resume into pools for a select few library director openings. In short, I've spent the last two months shifting back into tenure-track academic law librarianship.I am asked almost daily, "Do you miss South Africa?" It is a hard question to answer. I still respond to queries and provide assistance to the LRC as best I can from Indianapolis. The work was meaningful and valid. The country is beautiful. The people I met, dedicated and working hard for meaningful change. So yes, it is a place and a people I miss.Since I've been back I've sought to find the same here. Beauty is easy to find. I arrived back in Indiana at the end of winter and the beginning of spring. In our yard, the spring flowers were arriving. Daffodils, and the spring wildflowers (Purple Trilliums, Violets, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Bloodroot, and Dutchman's Breeches) were beating back the polar vortex.

Spring wild flowers, Indiana 2014

Spring wild flowers, Indiana 2014

Purple Trillium, Indiana 2014

Soon to follow the Bleeding Hearts, Forget-Me-Nots, lilacs, and now the peonies have made the long cold winter a distant memory.Work has presented a tangent that is interesting and meaningful. I've been asked to work with the U.S. Military Commission Observation Project of the IU McKinney Program on International Human Rights. I hope to report back to George Bizos that I took his lunch table lectures to heart and helped in some very very small way on the resolution of the Guantanamo Bay prison. This project along with another article in progress should keep me occupied for a bit.And like South Africa, we have our own wildlife. Max and Ellie Mae are determined hunters, bent on ridding our yard of anything small and furry.

Ellie Mae on spotting duty, Spring 2014

Max on the trail, Spring 2014

So much for that grooming session.

Right-angles present themselves each day; and two-resume families are often faced with hard choices. Our most recent right-angle required the usual "5:00 am depression of the clutch of a moving truck on a Saturday morning" and the hauling of material goods up to a fourth floor walk-up in Evanston (Why is it always 5:00 am? If I knew I could change the paradigm!). For now we are splitting our furnishings and time between Chicago and Indianapolis as we involve ourselves in yet another of life's adventures to which we could not say "no."

Since life and work remain interesting I am hopeful for blog content; or perhaps I'm just delaying the end of an interesting project. Until then I hope you will keep reading. In the interim, may I recommend Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s advice in his work A Man without a Country,“Please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If
this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’”

Sunday, March 16, 2014

During my time here in South Africa I have become quite the "hanger-on." I rarely turn down an invitation, even if the invitation starts out with "I'll pick up you up at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday!" Saying yes in this case meant a weekend trip to the beautiful Mpumalanga Province in northeastern South Africa.The drive was five hours each way; with the rest of the time spent driving around in Kruger National Park. With only a brief coffee and re-fueling break on Saturday morning, we reached the north gate of the park around 11:00 and spent the entire day driving nearly deserted dirt roads. As usual, my photographs don't begin to due justice to the scenic beauty and the majesty of the animals.

We were a bit late to the waterhole!

Kruger National Park is pretty rugged and wild.

The landscape was diverse and more untamed than the other reserves I have visited. We started on the grasslands, drove along the river, and roamed these rocky hills. There was a lot of rain, so I was very happy in be a large Land Rover. I was a bit worried when I saw a few small economy sized rental cars negotiating the flooded dirt roads.

His mate and their baby were a bit too busy too come out for the photo shoot.

We were lucky enough to see a 1/2 dozen rhinos during the weekend.

The highlight was a "high noon" stand-off between a pack of wild dogs and a herd of zebras. Sightings of wild dogs are pretty rare, as there are only 120 wild dogs left in the park. The female in the foreground is wearing a tracking collar. We watched the ongoing negotiations and posturing for an hour. Eventually the zebras decided not to cross at this point.

As we rounded a curve in the road, we spotted a small group of elephants. The small group got larger and we decided it was in our best interests to reverse back out of their way. They decided we could have the road back after about 2 kilometers.

We spent Saturday night in the park in a rondavel, think very cute round cabin with a reed roof.

Photo credit: Kruger National Park

The kitchen was on the outside of the building; in locked cages to prevent the monkeys and badgers from carrying off our supplies and the kitchenware. When finishing dinner (which we cooked) my companion mentioned that the park opened at 4:30 a.m. Since we were three minutes from the gate, I negotiated getting up at 5:00 and leaving our room by 5:30. As a result I had to live down that our view of two rhinos was blocked by another car before the sun was even fully up.The scenery on the drive back to Johannesburg was equally gorgeous.

Of the 38 hours that I was away from my Johannesburg apartment, I spent 26 hours in the car. Yet one more reason to be glad that it was a Land Rover!

Friday, February 28, 2014

On Friday, I headed off to the Eastern Cape. I had Monday-Tuesday meetings in the city of Grahamstown, so I tacked on a brief tourist weekend. I flew to Port Elizabeth on the eastern coast; collected my rental car and headed off. The GPS wound me through the central downtown of Port Elizabeth. Sadly, as many of South Africa's cities, the downtown was mainly cheap shops and fast food restaurants in decaying buildings. At one time, it must have been stunning. I headed north along the coast for a bit and got to see the ships coming into port. After passing through a number of townships and informal settlements, I reached open land. There were long periods of time during which I was the only car on the road; only to be suddenly shocked to look up and see a mining truck, taxi, or car bearing down on me at 100 km an hour. Thankfully there were lots of pull offs so I could get of the way. The road kept getting narrower and less traveled. The scenery was changing as I drove into the hills. I passed through hill-sides abundant with fruit bearing prickly pear cactus. The solitude of the road deterred me from pulling over and buying a few from the vendors selling them along the roadside. One of the downsides of being a solitary traveler is that you have to think cautiously. About 4:00 pm I passed through Addo, a place more an intersection than a town, and made the last turn towards my hotel. There was a slight drizzle which keep the dust down as I drove the last 20 km up a mountain road. I didn't think it was wise to stop and take photographs on a one-lane mountain road in the rain and oncoming twilight. Especially since there were no pull offs and no guard rails. The scenery is spectacular in that part of the country as shown in these photographs from the next morning.

I stayed at the Zurrberg Mountain Inn Village, a lodge at the top of the mountain and at the end of the road. I had an adorable cottage that had both an indoor and an outdoor shower. It also came with complementary sherry! I wasted no time, in pouring a bit and sitting on the back veranda to listen to the quiet and look at the mountains.

The main lodge was equally lovely. The weather turned cool enough, as measured by South African standards, to put up a large fire in the fireplace.

Oddly, despite the tropical feel, there was also a lovely rose garden.

Tansy on guard duty by the front door.

The lodge also came with two very personable dogs, Tansy and Belmont. The minute the fire place was lit, both moved in and plopped down. The only time I saw them move fast during the entire weekend was when a velvet monkey snuck in and stole fruit off the large back veranda by the pool. When I walked in the first time they were both lying on their backs with their feet in the air sleeping. They were so still that I thought perhaps some bizarre taxidermy had tipped over -- it is South Africa after all.

Belmont felt right at home in the pool with the guests.

View from front veranda.

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Road ends at hotel.

The real reason for the trip (besides work) started at 5:30 am the next morning. It was a drive through the Addo Elephant National Park. The benefit of going with a driver is that they are very knowledgeable -- I know more about dung beetles than I ever thought possible -- and they get you very close to the animals.

The Addo Elephant National Park is a no intervention park, with one exception. The park does enhance some of the natural springs to form water holes due to the dry climate.

Although there was lots of different game, the stars of the adventure were indeed the elephants. The first guy we saw had no reluctance in expressing his impression of the paparazzi.

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An older guy hanging out by himself and on the way to the water hole.

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I enjoy the scenery as much as the animals.

The start of the gang.

Although often referred to as "cattle" -- I like them!

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Afternoon gathering.

Sometime during all the excitement I lost my sunglasses and a camera lenses cap. I suppose I could say that the velvet monkeys had something to do with the loss. After all I had witnessed prior bad acts with fruit at the hotel.

I did leave my glasses on the seat of the jeep during a quick pit stop at a rest area in the presence of these guys. But even though the tall tales are tall here, it might be just a bit much to envision a velvet monkey wearing a pair of trendy bifocal prescription sunglasses in the bush!